Around the NFL Week 5

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Skinzman

20 years ago... sure. 30 years ago... Not a chance. 30 years ago, ESPN was only a few years old and was showing racquetball, hurling (sort of a field hockey thing), Aussie rules football and things of that nature. Sports Center showed promise, so they started repeating it over and over.

A deal that ESPN made with the NCAA for College Basketball to air games during march madness that the major networks werent showing got people talking about them (sometime in the very early 80's). Didnt make them much money, but got them recognized. It was college basketball 24/7 for a week or two that had people asking the cable networks to sign ESPN as a cable channel.

When they started, they didnt even call themselves ESPN. They called themselves the ESP Network. Which was confusing for something that was showing sports around the clock.

You are correct. I remember that some people informally called ESPN "the basketball channel" in the early 80's.